Tag: Articles

“Filipinos in the Philippines don’t need to define themselves, but for the Filipino diaspora many are looking for a connection back to their heritage,” says Elle Festin, co-founder of the Tatak Ng Apat na Alon community, which translates as “Mark of the Four Waves Tribe”.

“It’s more important for them to define themselves as Filipino in a foreign country.”

London, UK: Another Cup of Coffee Limited, a London-based web development company, aims to improve emergency preparedness in the Philippines with the launch of Emergency Plan for iPhone. The app is a simple tool designed to store an emergency plan for an earthquake, flood, typhoon or similar event. Valuable for families who want to ensure their households are prepared to handle a crisis, it can also be used by employers to issue staff with company emergency procedures.

Existing apps tend to offer alert services geared for crisis management professionals or provide standard guidelines easily found online. In contrast, Emergency Plan for iPhone allows ordinary users to save a plan that’s appropriate for their own family or work environment. Its straightforward interface delivers only the important information without unwanted distractions.

Despite the Philippines being highlighted as among the most disaster-prone countries, many Filipinos are still caught off guard by extreme weather events. Founder Anthony Lopez-Vito, who is a British-born Filipino, said, “When Typhoon Yolanda struck, my friends and colleagues with family in the area didn’t know how to find their loved ones. I thought it would be great to have an app people can use for planning before another crisis.” After an unsuccessful search for something suitable, Mr Lopez-Vito decided to build an app to meet the need. He continued: “These days, mobile phones–especially iPhones–are quite common but most apps are for preppers. Since your phone is a constant companion, it makes sense to use an app to keep the important elements of your plan with you at all times.”

Emergency Plan is an iPhone app version of a paper-based emergency plan card. Although electronics may not be useable in a prolonged calamity, it is intended for the immediate unfolding of a crisis. Emergency Plan for iPhone is free for a limited time to gather feedback and make improvements.

Download from the App Store: https://itunes.apple.com/app/emergency-plan/id820246228

App web page: http://anothercoffee.net/emergencyplan/

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/EmergencyPlanApp

About Another Cup of Coffee Limited:

Another Cup of Coffee Limited is a web development company based in London, England. Founded in 2006, it creates and manages websites for small businesses, media agencies and not-for-profit groups around the world. Although incorporated in the United Kingdom, its talent is made up of independent professionals, many of whom are based in the Philippines.

Ryan Songalia, a Filipino-American with mixed-roots, moved from New Jersey to Bonifacio Global City where he faces questions about his cultural identify.

“Still, it underlines my quagmire: I’m too white to be Filipino, and too Filipino to be white.

So, if I’m “not a Filipino,” then what is a Filipino? Is it only someone who is a native born to the Philippines?

…The issue of cultural identity was one that I often examined as a child growing up with family members who were of European, Chinese and African-American descent. My father, who was born in Leyte but hadn’t been back until I was already grown up, never spoke much about the Philippines, except when discussing Rolando Navarette, Andy Ganigan and other Filipino boxers he appreciated in his younger years. My mother is fond of saying that I’m not one thing, but a mixture of the many influences I was surrounded by in my melting pot of a family and community.”

A visitor wanted to tell us about his new music site AFIRtayo.com. Take a look:

www.AFIRtayo.com (A Filipino International Radio) has been created with the purpose of “bridging all the international Filipino communities in order for them to have one voice.”

Listeners may ask this question: “What makes AFIRtayo.com different from all the other net radios?”

Aside from the kind of music that matches the liking of majority of the listeners, AFIRtayo.com makes you feel at home, not just because you are listening to music that suits your taste, but rather it helps you build a certain bond with all the other listeners through being able to communicate with them; every listener has a privilege to voice out his or her thoughts, feelings and opinions and be a part of a world-wide community of happy and expressive people. This site, although especially made for Filipinos, is not exclusively for Filipinos. People of every color and race are very much welcome to join this community!

In the Filipino language, a Christmas lantern is called a Parol. There’s no greater symbol of the Filipino Christmas spirit than this; it is our Christmas Tree. All through the Christmas season, star-shaped lanterns can be found hanging outside homes and along the streets of cities and small provincial towns, farms and fishing villages.

This Christmas, Philippine Generations is inviting everyone to take time away from the Christmas rush and join us to learn a new skill and keep this tradition alive. This will be our third year of hosting the parol workshop and it will be bigger and better than previous years. During the workshop you will learn how to make Filipino Christmas lanterns the traditional way, from bamboo sticks and rice paper. The workshop is open to everyone – young and old, Filipinos and non Filipinos, and across the range of artistic abilities.

So before we start let’s share some heritage about the delicious fast-food chain that is Jollibee! In 1975 Tony Tan Caktiong and his family opened a Magnolia Ice Cream parlour in Cubao, sometime in 1978, Caktiong and his brothers and sisters engaged the services of a management consultant, Manuel C. Lumba. Lumba shifted the business focus from ice cream to burgers, after his studies showed that a much larger market was waiting to be served. Lumba became Caktiong’s first business and management mentor.

Jollibee is an American-style fast-food restaurant with Filipino-influenced dishes specializing in burgers, spaghetti, chicken and some local Filipino dishes. In the Philippines, Jollibee serves Coca-Cola products for its beverages; in overseas markets, the chain serves Pepsi products.

Currently the largest fast-food chain in the country, it also has locations in the United States, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Dubai and Brunei.

Jollibee has won many accolades. It has consistently been mentioned as one of the Philippines’ and Asia’s most admired companies in surveys conducted by publications such as Asian Business Magazine and The Asian Wall Street Journal and has received other plaudits from Euromoney and Asia Money. In 2008, it was also the recipient of the FMCG and F & B Asia Pacific Supply Chain Excellence Award at the SCM Logistics Excellence Awards.

The BBC reports that over 150 Filipinos celebrated Christmas at a party at the Labour Club in Yeovil. According to the article, most of the Filipinos in Somerset work in healthcare or are working students.

We’ve been contacted by a company running a trial for a new mobile remittance service. The system will enable quick instant, mobile money transfers, from the UK to the Philippines via Globe GCash.

Filipinos who regularly send money to friends and family in the Philippines are needed to trial out the new service before the end of the year (31 Dec 2010). All participants will be given an incentive payment of £10.